The Supreme Court of India(SCI)on Monday Oct 24,2016 turned the heat on the
Reserve Bank of India (RBI), asking why it is against making public
names of 57 tax-dodgers who owe banks Rs. 85,000 crore in bad loans.
“Who
are these people who have borrowed money and are not paying back? Why
this fact that the person has borrowed money and not paying back be not
known to public,” Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur asked.
The
Bench’s strong push for transparency came after it went through a
confidential report filed by the RBI containing names and details of
those who have reneged on loans worth over Rs. 500 crore.
The SCI said the RBI should disclose the names of these defaulters and
these should come out into the public domain through Right to
Information (RTI) applications.
“People should know
how much money a person has borrowed and how much money he needs to pay
back. The amount payable should be known to public. Why should you
withhold information?” Chief Justice Thakur asked the central bank’s
counsel.
RBI counsel responded that not all of those who have
failed to pay back their loans have done it on purpose. ‘Names of
defaulters cannot be made public under the statutory law’, he submitted.
“You must work in the interest of the country, not just in the interest of banks,” Chief Justice Thakur reacted.
Advocate
Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the NGO Centre for Public Interest
Litigation (CPIL), favoured disclosure of the outstanding loan amount
and cited an apex court verdict of December 2015 to claim that the RBI
had to provide information.
The Bench asked the RBI to come prepared with a decision
on whether it intends to disclose the names or not by October 28, 2016 the
next date of hearing.
The SCI had expressed
concern over the growing amount of bad loans, noting that “people are
taking thousands of crores and running away by declaring their companies
insolvent, but poor farmers who take small amounts of Rs. 20,000 or Rs.
15,000 suffer.”
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